December 9, 2014

Physicists at the University of Michigan (U-M) and several other universities have discovered or confirmed several properties of the compound samarium hexaboride (SmB6) at low temperature that raise hopes for finding the “silicon” of the quantum era.

In an open-access paper in the journal Science, the U-M researchers say they provide the first direct evidence that samarium hexaboride (SmB6) is a “topological insulator” — a… read more

December 8, 2014

University of New South Wales (UNSW) solar researchers have converted more than 40% of the sunlight hitting a solar system into electricity, “the highest efficiency ever reported for sunlight conversion into electricity,” UNSW Scientia Professor and Director of the Australian Centre for Advanced Photovoltaics (ACAP) Professor Martin Green said.

“We used commercial solar cells, but in a new way, so these efficiency improvements are readily accessible to the solar… read more

December 8, 2014

A team of scientists led by Brown University has developed a high-data-rate, low-power, wireless brain-sensor and transmitter system for acquiring high-fidelity neural data during animal behavior experiments.

The new system solves a fundamental problem in neuroscience research: cables, which are needed to connect brain sensors to computers, constrain movement of subjects, limiting the kinds of research that are possible.

December 5, 2014

Canadian researchers have developed “smart textiles” able to monitor and transmit wearers’ biomedical information via wireless or cellular network by superimposing multiple layers of copper, polymers, glass, and silver.

“The fiber acts as both sensor and antenna. It is durable but malleable, and can be woven with wool or cotton, and signal quality is comparable to commercial antennas,” explained Professor Younes Messaddeq at Université Laval’s Faculty of Science and Engineering… read more

Simplified gait model eliminates need for complex designs and team of physical-rehabilitation specialists

December 5, 2014

Wearers of a new robotic leg can walk on a moving treadmill almost as fast as an able-bodied person, said inventor Robert Gregg, PhD, a University of Texas at Dallas professor, who applied robot control theory to enable powered prosthetics to dynamically respond to the wearer’s environment and help amputees walk.

“We borrowed from robot control theory to create a simple, effective new way to analyze the human… read more

December 4, 2014

The U.S. Department of Defense (DoD) is asking for ideas fromthe private sector on breakthrough technologies to guide military investment for the next decade and beyond, according to an article by futurist Patrick Tucker Wednesday in Defense One newsletter.

“On Wednesday, Defense Department officials issued a request for information calling on interested parties ‘to identify current and emerging technologies … that could provide significant military advantage to the United… read more

December 4, 2014

Chemists at the University of California, Riverside (UCR) have fabricated a novel rewritable “paper” process in the lab, based on the color-switching property of commercially available chemicals called redox dyes.

Printing is achieved by using ultraviolet light to photobleach the dye, except the masked portions for the text on the paper. The prototype rewritable paper can be erased and written on more than 20 times with no significant loss… read more

December 4, 2014

Rice University scientists have discovered an environmentally friendly carbon-capture method that could draw carbon dioxide emissions from industrial flue gases and natural gas wells, using a combination of amine-rich compounds and carbon-60 molecules.

The research is the subject of an open-access paper published Wednesday (Nov. 4) in Nature’s online journal Scientific Reports.

“We had two goals,” Rice chemist Andrew Barro said. “One was to make the compound 100… read more

Eminent gerontologist tracked supercentenarians on Gerontology Research Group

December 4, 2014

Stephen Coles, M.D., Ph.D, passed away on December 3 of complications of pancreatic cancer. He was 73.

L. [Leslie] Stephen Coles was a Lecturer in Gerontology at the University California, Los Angeles, in the department of Chemistry and Biochemistry. Since he started teaching at UCLA in 1986, he taught for the Computer Science Department, the Surgical Department, and the Fiat Lux Program for Freshman.

December 2, 2014

Researchers from Universidad Carlos III de Madrid (UC3M) are developing a new gear transmission mechanism with no touching parts, based on magnetic forces that prevent friction and wear and make lubrication unnecessary.

The device has potential applications in railroad and aircraft industries, as well as in space travel and exploration.

The design uses a magnetic gear reducer, that is, a mechanism that transforms speed from an input axle… read more

Stanford optical device splits a beam of light into different colors and bends the light at opposite right angles, based on wavelength

December 2, 2014

Stanford engineers have designed and built a prism-like silicon device that can split a beam of light into different colors and bend the light at right angles — a development that could eventually lead to computers that use nanophotonics to transmit data faster and more efficiently than electricity.

They describe this “optical link” —a tiny slice of silicon etched with a pattern that resembles a bar code — in… read more

December 2, 2014

A computer system called PaleoDeepDive has equaled (or bested in some categories) scientists at the complex task of extracting data from scientific publications and placing it in a database that catalogs the results of tens of thousands of individual studies.

The development, described in the current issue of PLoS, marks a milestone in the quest to rapidly and precisely summarize, collate, and index the vast output of scientists… read more